Four librarians for every 10,000 Michigan students. Even if you’re functionally illiterate, that figure should seem criminally low. According to the linked article by Sarah Cweik…
Currently, more than 90% of Michigan’s public schools lack a certified librarian, with only 567 full-time librarians for the state’s more than 1.3 million students last school year
The numbers of school libraries and librarians in Michigan have declined sharply over the past two decades, but two Michigan state senators have introduced bills they will hope will restore them. […] State Senator Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton) is one of them. He’s sponsoring bills that would require every Michigan school district to offer at least one accessible library, and that each be staffed by a certified school librarian [emphasis mine – r2].
Is that really asking so much, even for rural Michigan in both peninsulas, especially in this on-demand digital age of e-books, video and audio files?
The school library legislation also includes a bill sponsored by Senator Rosemary Bayer (D-West Bloomfield) that requires a principal or other school administrator designate someone to supervise students in the library when no certified media specialist is present. […] “Librarians play a vital role in our education system,” Bayer said in a statement. “In today’s age of digital misinformation our librarians help students ascertain fact from fiction and the importance of checking sources. They are providing our students with skills they will use every day.”